Here are some of today’s topics:

• State of the Union
• American Crystal Sugar Company
• Youth Health Protection Act

STATE OF THE UNION:

President Joe Biden’s State of the Union (SOTU) address was marred by hecklers. The joint session of Congress sank to new lows last night with members of Congress calling Biden a “liar.”

As one report stated the heckling, “marked a new low for civility in politics in the United States.”

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is afraid to do too much about his out-of-control members, for fear he will lose his speakership.

Toward the end of the speech, I tweeted:

“The House and Senate leaders need to come down hard on any member that breaks decorum during the SOTU. There were many shameful displays tonight.”

We are better than this. Just because the person is from the other party does not mean we are enemies. No matter which party he belongs to, the President of the United States should be treated with respect – especially when the speech is being seen around the world.

U.S. Representative Ryan Zinke (R-MT) was on CNN this morning and was asked about the heckling. I can’t find the video or transcript, but Zinke basically said we need to show respect to the President, and he was an invited guest to the U.S. House and should be treated with respect even when there are disagreements, I liked what Zinke said, and I give him a thumbs up for his response.

As for the SOTU speech, I think it was too long, coming in at 1:13. In comparison, all of President Donald Trump’s SOTU speeches were longer. (Source)

You can read the speech HERE. A fact check of the SOTU can be found HERE.

Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders gave the Republican response, and you can see the fact check of her response HERE.

AMERICAN CRYSTAL SUGAR COMPANY:

The Daily Montanan reported this week that American Crystal Sugar Company said it’ll start closing a Sidney sugar beet processing facility in April because of “an insufficient supply of sugar beets from local growers.”

U.S. Representative Matt Rosendale (R-MT) said there will be 300 jobs lost along with millions of dollars in economic impact.

This is a big hit to the local area. I wonder how the residents of Sidney and Richland County feel about the Republicans being in charge in Montana. It does not look like the lobbying from the beet growers paid off.

The loss of jobs falls on Governor Greg Gianforte, Rosendale, and the local Republican officials. That’s a fact.

Are the Montana Democrats paying attention?

Read the report from the Daily Montanan HERE.

YOUTH HEALTH PROTECTION ACT:

I saw some news reports about Montana State Senate Bill 99, which has the short title “Youth Health Protection Act.”

According to MTN News, the bill would ban hormone treatments or surgeries for someone under 18 seeking to medically transition to a gender identity different from the sex they were assigned at birth. It would threaten health care providers who do provide those treatments with a yearlong suspension of their authority to practice, along with potential legal liability for up to 25 years.

The bill passed the second reading in the state senate 28-21. See how your state senator voted HERE.

If this bill makes it into law, it will probably be found unconstitutional by the courts. I once thought that Republicans stood up for privacy, but just like they used to claim they did not want to raise taxes, the Republican party has changed. Now the Republicans want to raise taxes, invade your privacy, and see what is in your pants.

This issue should be left up to the person and their parent/guardian, period.

Read the story from MTN News HERE.

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